LOBE IT OR LIST IT | The Case of the Week involved the kidnapping of Maybelle Doyle, a pill-popping, money-burning, bad boy-bedding problem child if ever there was one, thus instilling much skepticism in her father Hollis. In fact, he doesn’t budge on the ransom until Maybelle’s severed ear arrives at the OPA office. Hollis then gets serious, wiring half up front and the rest once they rendezvous with his mutilated, gagged girl at a remote filling station. Maybelle, though, subsequently goes MIA, just as Huck scrutinizes the lopped lobe and deduces that she sawed it off herself and thus staged her own abduction. Huck intercepts Maybelle and brings her back to OPA, where she must face her parents and, even scarier, Olivia, who rails at the lass for not appreciating the chance for a “do-over.” Hollis gives Maybelle a choice: money, or family. She chooses the former and marches off, as her father urges her, “Go on! Get!” At episode’s end, with their OPA business done, Huck, after overhearing “Lindsey” leave a birthday message for her unreachable dad, introduces Quinn to a new family he found — but not to replace the one Becky took from him, but of her own. To, you know, stalk in that warm-and-fuzzy way.RELATED | Matt’s Inside Line: Scoop on Scandal Skin, Grey’s, Once Upon a Time and More

THE OSBORNE IDENTITY | Acting off Mellie’s tip, Cyrus tasks Charlie with getting the 411 on Fitz’s new bestie, Jake Ballard. POTUS meanwhile charges Jake with ferreting out the CIA mole, with the lure of maybe landing a position “more official” within the White House. After spying a tense encounter between Liv and Osborne (who had detected that Huck was following him), Jake snoops around her apartment and finds intel that he relays to Fitz, fingering the CIA director. Later, Cy — armed with info from Charlie — visits his president and alludes to a highly secretive mission the former military man was involved in, in Iran. “The point,” Cy argues, “is you did things, things you can’t talk about. Well guess what, so did I.” And while Cyrus’ indiscretion took place in Ohio versus the Middle East, “I am no less a patriot, my service was no less valiant…. History makes the villains and the heroes.” Moved by his chief of staff’s words, Fitz reads him in on the Osborne sitch. Cyrus in turn gives an innocence-pleading Oz the hook, and the CIA boss later turns up dead of an apparent suicide.

‘CLOSE. YOUR. EYES.’| Liv blows off an evening of wine and popcorn with Cyrus, explaining that she is “jumping,” that she has plans with a new guy. Cyrus in turn makes mention of his own issues with Fitz and how he must deal with his “competition” — neither of them of course realizing they’re talking about the same mystery man! Yet when Jake shows up for his 5-star dinner date, Liv has downgraded into her loungewear, explaining, “I’m not over it yet,” her previous romance. Jake professes his affection for how Liv says “What?” when she answers the phone, how she always seems to wear white, how wine is a food group for her. “You seem sad,” he then notes. “If you let me, maybe you’ll not be so sad. You can start fresh. Maybe I’m your do-over. You deserve a do-over.” At Jake’s cue, Liv closes her eyes and fields a warm kiss from the wannabe beau, who then asks: “Are you still thinking about him?” “No,” she answers — but do we totally believe her?

THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT | Turning to First Family matters, Fitz is gung-ho about a weekend visit from invisi-kids Karen and Jerry, but Mellie shuffles his schedule to busy him up. Fitz accuses his Mrs. of meddling, but she sobers him up fast with the hard-to-guzzle truth: Their kids begged not to come. “You are lubricated all of the time, your skin stinks of Scotch, you are mean. It’s you. You’re different.” And it wasn’t Defiance that changed him, but the realization that “your precious Olivia didn’t have the secrets of the universe tucked between her magical thighs.” (Ouch!) Mel then delivers words that sting even more: “You’re Big Jerry,” the father that Fitz can’t stomach, “so you should understand.” And on that note, Fitz finally releases his grip on his double old-fashioned.

‘MOLE’ REMOVAL | The hour closes with the police’s aforementioned discovery of CIA director Osborne’s dead body. We then cut to an isolated park bench, where Jake meets up with a strange man who confirms: “It’s done?” Yes, Jake answers — and everyone is buying the suicide angle, “Hook, line and sinker.”

What did you think of this week’s Scandal? Is Jake possibly as dirty as he now (again) seems? How long will it take for Cyrus and Liv to realize the man they have in common? And are you digging the Huck/Quinn dynamic?

Her speech was amazing and it was chock full of lies. She cares as much about her children as she cares for the janitor’s kids. But she knew where to hit Fitz where it would hurt worst. Incidentally, I don’t know if Cyrus realized it, but he gave Fitz a very good argument to go back to Olivia.

Good question. This woman sees her children as extensions of herself, nothing more. She couldn’t care less about them. But she knows Fitz doesn’t care how his drinking and neglect are affecting her, so she substitutes her kids for herself. She knows where to hit him where it will hurt the most. And telling him he’s turning into his father was genius, since she knows how much he loathes his father. The last thing he wants is to become the same kind of father to his children that his own father was to him.

I don’t agree. I think for one of those rare times, Mellie told Fitz the absolute truth. Usually Mellie will lie all over the place to appease Fitz but this time? She told him – your kids are afraid of you. And she’s not lying about the scotch. Look at the last four episodes. In almost every frame Fitz is in when he’s in the Oval Office – he has a drink nearby. The man is sloshed and he is acting like Dead Daddy Dearest. She told him the truth – now lets see if he finally mans up or becomes even more like Big Jerry…

I think slade is right. Mellie was at her most honest last night. She was fed up. She took the heat from Fitz for supposedly not being a good mother, but she had enough. She was protecting her kids. It was a great moment.

Gotta say I agree with first poster who replied to this that I think Mellie was telling the truth. It IS possible to manipulate using the truth. Mellie may be herself quite tired of dealing with Fitz’ sloshed *ss, but that doesn’t automatically mean she’s lying about how the kids feel. Plus, it’s a pretty dangerous lie to tell because Jerry and Karen, unlike Teddy, are actually old enough to DEBUNK anything she said if it wasn’t the truth. All it would take for Fitz to find out it wasn’t true would be for him to apologize to the kids (and Fitz does strike me as the kind of man who would do that, who would feel badly enough about upsetting his kids to apologize to them) and have one or both of them be all, “What are you on about right now, Dad?” So I think Mellie was telling the truth both about how the kids feel AND why Fitz needs to pull his head out of the Scotch for once and for all.

Mellie could have been telling the truth, but the reason why she was doing it is obviously not for the sake of the kids or her family. i think she was doing it just to show fitz that she may be a bad person but he too is one. same message was delivered by cy when he said he and fitz ‘did things’.

he did. by telling fitz that its history to judge people not fitz and by saying that everyone has done things for the sake of the country. so fitz should be able to see that liv did the same …. for the country

Fantastic episode! Mellie’s monologue was brilliant and the first time I’ve ever liked her character. Olivia and Jake’s kiss was the least sexy kiss I’ve ever seen, no way that made her stop thinking about Fitz. Hopefully, her and Cyrus will soon realize their common enemy and bring him down. Jake’s character has already begun to annoy me so I hope that storyline gets wrapped up this season.

Bellamy Young was amazing tonight and she nailed that speech to Fitz. She and Tony Goldwyn play off each other so well. And I think that is the scene for her Emmy reel. She has played the act between Lady MacBeth and scorned dutiful wife so well, she deserves the recognition as well as the entire cast. Loves it!!

I like the Jake arc. Tired of people being “annoyed” by characters just because they are getting in the way of the two lovers. Really don’t like the president and Olivia love story either. It’s quite pathetic. President needs to sack up and get away from the chick with the weird facial expressions. I would stop watching the show of it weren’t for some of the actors and the cases they deal with.

I know it’s just TV, but I like Jake and I liked the senator because Olivia [her facial expressions are quirky] with a man that is not married, it amazes me how many women are really hot for this relationship, he treats her like crap, dragging her in to closet for sex, telling her he cannot control his erections… I almost stopped watching, but like you I enjoy everything else about the show.

It sounds like you’re a hate-watcher. The Jake arc is fantastic, but you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bathwater just because of people’s reactions to the relationship between OLIVIA, THE STAR OF THE SHOW, and the President. There are many things that are pathetic in life that we watch and call entertainment in this country, the storylines on “Scandal”, specifically the presidential storyline, isn’t one.

I still can’t get why some dudes (as Olivia is just a chick), watching a genre tailor-made for women, insists on complaining about the “romantic” aspect when they are not the target audience. That is so weird…

@theOtherMonique- You can’t just assume that because someone refers to olivia as a chick that it’s a guy. In this case it is a guy but girls can also refer to other girls as chicks too. And if some fans are not happy with the relationship does not make them any less scandal fans or as you call it “hate-watchers”. If you’re an olitz fan that’s great but respect other peoples opinions if they aren’t and yes the relationship draws in a lot of female viewers but there are a lot of men who watch and enjoy scandal as well so that point you made was a bit over the top and very presumptuous.

Clearly it was in his context. Did he seem respectful of the character Olivia/actress? The usage of the word “pathetic” isn’t offensive to those who are fans of, or have no problems with the storyline (I am the latter)? That + chick, is “over the top” and unnecessary. Man or woman. I don’t see how (or why) you are choosing to equate his comment re: his clear distaste for the lead of the show (yet he seems to have some respect for Fitz) with this mythology of my claiming non-Olitz fans to be “hate-watchers”. I don’t believe that at all. I was a Grey’s fan and didn’t like half the relationships, but I sucked it up. You are inferring incorrectly. As for the men watching, the point is they should expect to deal with components of a genre intended for its target demos.

@theOtherMonique- First off let me be clear. I’m NOT justifying his comment in anyway. I’m merely saying to you that even though what he said can be deemed rude (to you) it’s HIS opinion whether you disagree or not. As I stated earlier even though scandal has a bigger female demographic there are still men who watch the show and therefore the perspectives are going to be different because sometimes men and women don’t watch a show for the same reasons and that’s when you get difference of opinion that you and he are having. If he thinks olivia is pathetic or uses words like “chick” or whatever that has nothing to do with you or me for that matter because that’s how he feels and I for one like to hear everyone’s opinions whether I diagree or agree because at the end of the day it doesn’t bother or affect me how they feel about the show and it shouldn’t affect you either. Don’t let other peoples thoughts or opinions get you so upset or feeling the need to respond all the time because then you’re just taking the bait. That’s all I’m saying.

I agree with you.. I am kind of getting tired of Olivia too. She can’t do everything. Nobody can. Her character is too exaggerated. And please don’t stone me here but I don’t find Kerry’s acting so convincing. I am sure she is a great person – but her acting skill just does not seem right for me. I feel like she is struggling with this character. She doesn’t fit physically either. Look at the others – Harrison, Tony, Bellamy, Cy, David, Abby – all these are excellent. But her???
But the writing is SUPERB!!! Great job Shonda and the writers.

Have you seen Judy Smith? What on earth? Question: Judy Smith, real-life inspiration for Kerry Washington’s character, provides the writers with real-life protocols each and every episode…. you know… never mind this thread is the craziest thing I’ve every seen…

Physically mismatched? Lets just recast her with Retta from Parks, or Gabby Sidibe (spit), or those things (like them) that they stick in commercials all of the time that make so many feel better about themselves… Do you need her to be taller? What are you saying?

Kerry, who attended George Washington in DC, fits the profile perfectly of a woman of DC. A New Yorker living the political animal. That’s what I loved about the casting. She looks more like the women with whom I’d interacted through interning and later working. “Kerrys” are a major component of the real DC life which is a very small and networked town. If Kerry were not acting, she’d likely be there in real-life right now. There are a million little Kerry Washington’s walking about DC, working in government or running foundations, think-tanks and private consulting companies.

Management consulting is how I got down there right after undergrad, which is what Olivia Pope’s character did before opening up her own firm. Do you understand how realistic Kerry is?!?!? Quinn and Harrison too. Abby, yes, in a way. Mellie is much prettier than any of her type walking around DMV, but Bellamy’s pedigree (Yale, Oxford) would have her in the heart of the beast, but would be there only for so long as it doesn’t seem to fit her style.

How are the cast members physically superior to Kerry… SERIOUSLY, PLEASE EXPLAIN… it’s like you’re speaking in code.

… oh, and as for her persona that is revealed through her ACTING (that you also question). She behaves like an athletic team Captain. As captain, even If you are not certain whether or not something can be done, you HAVE TO BELIEVE IT CAN or you might demoralize your team (and yourself). This is COMPLETELY what I see in Olivia Pope’s character and is a common leadership quality that separates one from the rest of the candidates climbing the DC ladder (Scholar athletes thrive in leadership positions). I don’t get your points or your basis for them…

It’s like Bellamy, whom I adore, does well this episode (Lisa Edelstein last week) so people think this is the the perfect opportunity to take down Kerry Washington. It’s just wrong on so many levels… but it’ll take more than this to make me hate Bellamy. Bellamy is such an angel and Bellamy’s success does not make me feel like something I’m entitled to has been taken away from me, personally, and it shouldn’t be used to take anything away from another character with whom you may or may not identify, therefore care much less about. Unfortunate.

I was all for your defense of KW and Olivia, but I don’t understand why you felt the need to toss Retta and Gabrielle Sidibe (“spit”? REALLY?) under the bus in order to make it. Not only does it reek of fat shaming (which is pretty gross of you if that’s really what you were doing with that), but it is in DIRECT CONTRADICTION to what you’re arguing against in your last paragraph – the pitting of women against each other when it’s completely unnecessary to do so. It wasn’t necessary to tear down other women – even ones with whom you might not identify and about whom you apparently don’t care – just to defend KW.

I’m not fat-shaming – I’m shaming the convenient norm in casting, not the women. Sidibe gets a (spit) out of me not for her weight, but her acting choices, specifically Tower Heist (a DIS-GRACE…DISGRACE), and her lack of politicization. That’s why I cannot stand her and never will.

The question seemed to be the incredulity of the casting of KW and her lack of a physical fit. I did not bring up physicality, the original poster did and did so without being clear. Surely you see this. So the question was, what permutation works best for the poster? What other permutations are there that would work? I then stated the norm and how that norm is used to validate groups who are rarely cast in such a way. So sure… you can get in to my supposed fat-shaming… (I don’t celebrate obesity, but I don’t judge it. I judge how it is used against people) but I am not the one who lives and breathes it. I am the messenger. I don’t need to get into WHY assigning obese characters, in an anti-obese nation to one specific group is problematic and then when a character does not fall into that area of comfort, is then questions, SPECIFICALLY, on her physical appearance and its realism. THAT is crazy.

BTW – Retta, to me is such a beautiful woman in a such way to me that I don’t think I could explain to you, as are SOME of the others who have been cast in such a way, but I KNOW that is not how they are being perceived and USED. I know that casting is not seeing what I see when I look at these women, their humanity. They see sass and casting uses it often, while bypassing Kerry types. It is how these women are USED that is the problem and the normalizing of their presence (or type quality of presence) in such a way, as sassy afterthoughts to more important character story lines. That is what was so beautiful SR, Grey’s Anatomy and the beauty of Bailey (not a size 2 type), who was humanized, but a familiar character at the same time. She was eased into our psyches and we felt like we knew her and her pain. People were given an opportunity to care about her…. and so on…blah, blah, blah… you get my point. It is how casting is used to appease viewers, the problem not being the actresses themselves. I just don’t like Sidibe. I can see how you would believe I was fat-shaming (the spit thing, then, would have been PRETTY outrageous from that point of view). I’m glad you pointed that out, as I hadn’t made that connection in my head.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses to my comment. I understand MUCH better where you were coming from and please understand, the whole reason I spoke up was because what I perceived to be you slagging off other women seemed so incongruous to your completely on-point final paragraphs. The rest of what you said was a smart defense of KW, which is why the apparent dig at Retta and Sidibe was so jarring to me.

A WOMAN BEING ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING IS THE BASIS FOR 70% OF THE RIDICULOUS TELEVISION IN THE U.S. and probably 99% of all shows with a female lead.

I just find it strange that it is only now that it becomes an issue. Some just don’t have the patience for it…in this case. o_O. I would’ve recommended your having addressed these issues over the past 20 years of television with the rail-thin super female cops/investigators.doctors who never made mistakes and could leap tall buildings in a single-bound (whom every man couldn’t help but fall in desperate love) to successfully change the dynamic of this show, which is what it seems like some are trying to do. Really guys? NOW Olivia, played by Kerry Washington, is a problem?

WHAT IS ESPECIALLY outrageous, is that Olivia Pope, is probably the most FALLIBLE woman lead character on network TV. Women aren’t allowed to make mistakes in TVLand. They’re the best (and toughest) lawyers, doctors, scientists, sharpshooters (barf) and cops (all while wearing a size 2 pantsuit), but THIS… you all are freaking out about? This is the ONLY one of these shows based on the real-life experiences of a woman, Executive Producer, Judy Smith, formerly THE top fixer in the country, whereas as all the other shows are pure make-believe… make-believe.

One can easily love both Olivia and Mellie, I know I do, but HEY, maybe Bellamy Young and Lisa Edelstein should have their own show where they’re perfect and don’t make any mistakes. Try keeping that show afloat. Maybe that will appease those dying for Mellie to become the lead of Scandal. Dying for it…

The funny thing is I’ve never disliked Mellie.
She’s grasping, desperate and gives Fitz mostly bad advice, especially politicaly, and I think they’re very bad for each other personally, (a bad marriage of 20 years will ALWAYS be a bad marriage), but I on’t dislike her.

Her greeting when Fitz returned from the G8 summit
“I thought you were dead. Well I knew you weren’t because I saw you on TV but a girl can dream”
Was one of my favourite lines in the show.Brilliant!

I’m just fed up the eternal love triangle.
There are other ways to complicate Fitz and Olivia rather than throwing other characters in the mix, it’s lazy and it doesn’t work, not with Mellie, and not with this Jake character. It’s getting tiresome.
As for Mellie, a divorced Mellie running for office would make for a very interesting turn for the character, as would watching Fitz divorce in office.
Fixing THAT would be a challenge worthy of Olivia Pope’s skills.
And if Mellie were to get elected, you know she’s going to screw up and need Pope and asspociates at some point, which would again make for an interesting episode if Olivia’s seeing Fitz again.

But as for her and Fitz, every time I see them together, I just think they both deserve better than this never ending misery.
And as Fitz said to Olivia “We love each other, we should be together”

This sort of thing happens amongst adults all the time. It’s always messy, but the writers are making it far more complicated than it really is.
Olivia organising fo Fitz to have another child and rejecting him in S1 was a shark jump.
Verna’s existence is a shark jump as Fitz made his first supreme court appointment as president in S1( the guy wose wife used to be a hooker)
Olivia trusting Jake, a guy she became acquianted with because he called a dead girl 3 times is a shark jump.
Verna’s motive for having Fitz shot was a shark jump, President Lanston is hardly the people’s will.
Fitz’s motive for killing Verna was a shark jump, revenge or a panicked urge to protect one or more of the conspirators makes sense, but all a cover up of his part required was to keep her away from Rosen till she died in, like a day or 2 and for the president that would be easy, only panic could have led to his actions.
Olivia’s refusal to explain herself properly to Fitz is a shark jump.
And no one has checked who actually won defiance, which is strange.
The writers are prectically nuking the fridge at this point, they would do well to stop while they still have a show.

I feel really sorry for poor David – not a single good thing ever happens to him. And now he lives in Olivia’s office! Poor guy.
Also, I really love Huck and Quinn together. They are all kinds of twisted (y’know, stalking in that warm-and-fuzzy way and all that ;D) but I really like their dynamic!

Did anyone else find it odd that they didn’t do anything about David’s break-in? I know there was a bigger story of Hollis’ daughter, but they didn’t dust for prints, check to see if anything was missing, call the police, etc. it was just a plot contrivance to make sure he was in all the scenes.

Love to hate Mellie. But that’s as far as it goes. Shonda did the same with ADDISON on Greys — making her sympathetic to the viewers. Truly, every character is flawed. LOVE IT! But looking forward to Olitz reunion.

Great Ep kudos to Mellie, Fitz needs to get out of that funk and move on or confront Liv in person (if He can control his feelings) Also I’m a bit puzzled If the CIA director Osborne’s is not the mole (his story was very convincing) the. Who is …I don’t think it’s Jake!

I think Jake as the mole would be too obvious. Who was the man on the bench next to him? Some people thought it was Edison but it didn’t look like him at all from the back; it seemed to be an older guy.

I love Scandal. I want to see more of James. I think he is a superb actor. I heard there will be a great scene of him and Cy on 220. I can’t wait. My favourates on the show are, Fitz, Cy, Mellie, Harrison, Abby, Huck and David. This show is the greatest I have seen on TV. Shona is a dynamic woman and ofcourse all the writers. The writing is out of this universe.

Oh I forgot to mention James in my least. As I said the best. He nails it all the time. I hope Shonda makes him regular. Oh by the way, I love Hollies too – with that accent – OMG he brings so much colour to the show.

Mellie, as I said last week I wanted us to have a chat and now we have an opportunity… Before anything, I want to acknowledge that you stepped up as a wife and mother this week, you told 75% of the truth to Fitz, however the DRINKING part of THAT “conversation” was lonngg overdue. But why Mellie did it take you so long to have that conversation? After watching your modus operandi for almost 2 seasons, I am understandibly suspicious of your motives and here’s why… I saw that rather than confront your husband directly (on the drinking and his mis-treatment of the kids) you went your usual manipulative, back-door root to change his schedule, and if he did not initiate the dialogue were you ever going to step up and confront the issues? Was that approach one from ‘The Good Wife Handbook’ or the ‘The Mother of the Year Manual’? Tell me how you watched your drunkened husband verbally abuse his kids and you did not stand up to him (for them) right at that moment. Or could it be that Fitz was correct and you do not attend family ‘outings’ so the kids had to tell you later? And when they did, why did you not go all Earth Mother on his ass for ‘Big Jerrying’ the kids right at that moment? Don’t give me any crap about the ‘Leader of the Free World’ and how you could not bother his head with ‘petty’ issues of the kids, because you still found the gumption after you spied on him & Cyrus in the Oval. (Now that is a move I cannnot see Michelle Obama, Hilllary Clinton, Laura or Barbara Bush making, but Mellie, as we can see you have no problem with being a Shady First Lady.) Call me cynical, but I think after your fake sweet gestures were no longer effective (on Fitz) and the whole WH had frozen you out, you HAD to stoop so low, and then you learnt that you were the only one in Siberia, Jake & Cyrus were ‘playing freely in the garden’ and you were pissed. So on the steam of that anger, you did the right thing – for the wrong reason. Now, I know one of your favorite mantras to Fitz is ‘I only want you to have what you need’, to which I will ask if that extended to the morning when you brought him scotch in the shower at 7.00 am? I guess his drinking then was ‘what he needed’ & then all through the hostage crisis it was all good until he got so mean that you were completely shut out. Let’s be honest for a change, the reason that you & Cyrus were tip-toeing around Fitz is that you all knew that you had ‘operated’ without his knowledge/Defiance, and lied to him for 2 years and so when he found out, you all were afraid if you spoke to him directly you all would be out of the WH (because he resigned, imploded or ‘fired’ your backsides). I am glad that you admitted that you are not the best mother, because I would have called you on the inducing labor and the hand sanitizer after touching baby Teddy, having the children in boarding school, etc but you did own it yourself. You just ‘love’ the people in your life (children & husband) in a cold, insincere manner. Now about Olivia, I have no issue with anything you say to Fitz about her. You are the woman scorned and you have to fight the ‘mistress’ with everything in your arsenal. But it does ring hollow when you consider that you knew that from the campaigning in the primaries (the first 1 minute) that there was something brewing between them and you chose to let it slide because you knew Olivia could accomplish (with the campaign & with Fitz) what you could not. You knew in the elevator, the morning of the Inaguration/Flag Pin and at the State Dinner, and you “let him have what he needed”, never entertaining the thought that they could love each other. Had you read The Good Wife Handbook all the way through, you would have known not to put temptation in your man’s path unless you are ready to pay the price. Ultimately Mellie what you showed me this week was something that you have hidden very well all along; you have issues with your own self worth, just like your husband!! It just manifests itself differently, you need someone’s coattails to ride on so that you can look good. You need Fitz to feed your feeling of superiority, you need his dependancy on you so that you can feel better than him. You need your ‘girlfriend’ Cyrus to run competition against, and at times you need him to ‘run a play’ with you. Even Sally Langston has more self worth than you, she ran for President on her own steam. Olivia runs her own business. James was a journalist and is now a hands-on dad and loving it! You Mellie, love to laud it over Fitz that you gave up everything for him, your career, had kids… But why? When you even admitted that you all had a partnership not a love marriage.. Why don’t you have your own ‘thing’? Now I hope that you are going to take stock soon and come to the realization that whether you stay married to Fitz or not, you should have something for you, that fills you with purpose and drive… and it can’t be Fitz. Because in the same way you cannot live vicariously through your child’s life, you cannot and should not do so on your spouse’s. I wish you well.

Fitz that ‘plain talk’ from your wife was long overdue and quite frankly I hope that you are ashamed that Mellie had to tell you that you were almost at PHD status in ASSOLOGY! (I told you that you were fast becoming an ass). I know ‘that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’ and that your crown has more of its fair share of thorns (Verna & Defiance,etc) but I now know that you have been to battle before, so I am going to require that you face the fact that abuse victims often become abusers – and go to your children and apologize. I know that you have that in you (in fact I think that I see that next week your are going to visit their school). It will be one of the hardest things that you will have to do but it will be the beginning of cauterizing the wounds left by Big Jerry. Once you start facing those things, you will find yourself back to you and yes, be a ‘great president’ and maybe win re-election fair and square.

Cyrus, what is it with you guys? Why can’t you and Olivia just apologize for that horrible thing that you all did (election rigging), also the horrible thing that you did to Fitz (lying about/hiding it)? While I know that Mellie only apologized as part of her manipulation schtick, she did. And while she quickly followed that up with a rationalization, (that YOU forced her to do it), and you have a ‘great patriot for American History’ rationalization, and Liv has her ‘mistake’ this is just white-washing the illegal things that are done to advance personal political agendas. What is it with Fitz that you guys cannot tell him the truth? Mellie the Master Manipulator, Cyrus the Conniving Sausage Maker… what is that? Maybe now that you know that he too was a warrior, you will stop that ‘kid glove’ treatment & forge a real equal partnership with Fitz. I also want to acknowledge that I know election rigging in the US is now common place (George Bush -2000 & Romney when his son bought the company in Ohio that owned/operated voting machines 2012) – but it does erode the confidence of the ‘people’ in the legitimacy of anything that happens in politics. It shivers me timbers just to think want really goes on that the public does not know.

So Jake you ARE working with the mole. You are a TERRORIST! The murderer of Wendy & Osborne…. and like I said last week you don’t really like Olivia, you just want to see what the all the ‘fuss’ (from Fitz) is about… I see that you will get to sleep with her and that while you are ‘in afterglow’ she is going to see your ‘people watching’ screens. I also know that you and the mole will have Huck neutralized, but I am hoping that when Fitz does come for you that you get hung by your testicles!!!!!!! It is scary to think how close you got the president and that he too could be killed….

Liv… I applaud you for ‘jumping’ even though you didn’t go far. I know the first time you left Fitz it took you 2 years to start dating (Edison) again (but you really did not commit), so now 1 year (since assination attempt) and some months from ‘the closet’ is not so bad. But girl, I just wish that you were more cynical/cautious/jaded and let Huck vet all your dates from here on out. And another thing, after all the people you have pissed off why don’t you have an elaborate security system in place, with frequent checks, audits and up-grades? Maybe at some point you could explain why you don’t think that this is a necessity (I guess you will put that in place after the upcoming experience). Now Liv, I still think you owe Fitz an explanation & apology for lying for 3 years. As I said before, whether you all get together or not – it is the right, honorable thing to do… and since you still love him you should give him what he is owed from you which would help, if as you say you worry about him all the time…

Hey Shondaland – you guys snuck this great episode in under the radar after promoting the hell out of 216, 218 and 220. Now I see that you guys are also marketing genius as well. Thanks for great entertainment.

Yes, it is a different way to interact wth the material, but I enjoy this approach just as much as the others. Recaps like this are like a whole other episode of Scandal and are entertaining and insightful … and when I don’t, I just stop reading and move on (like I think you should do). We all use these sites to air our views in OUR way, this writer did that, and pretty well too. If anything I wish she would do a recap like Tangea Echoff, but the right to ‘write’ on this site on this topic (with respect for the other readers) is hers just as much as it it is yours. If I had the right to tell people not to write things I did not like, I would tell the people with racist comments to ‘drop dead’, and those people without suffucient skills to post a comment without cursing to take an language class, but since this is a site for ‘smart talk about TV’, I will defend her right to write what she did, how she did, because it was VERY smart and entertaining! And now I am really going to upset you both when I tell you that I agreeed with her and the first set of posters.

Mellie did say what needed to be said, but she did use the truth conveniently, (and creatively as only Mellie could) and not necessarily in her children’s best interst. She has let Fitz get way too far with the drinking, while all she talked with Cy about was who Fitz was listening to, and how to get back into Fitz’s head. Good speech, yes! Good wife, no so much. Good mother, so so.

Quinn and Huck were great too. I really wondered for a minute if Quinn was the one torturing Hollis with her new skills. I was surprised that she stuck around when he was there, because helping someone who almost had you deliberately killed is not quite believeable. I feel the writers missed a good opportunity for Quinn to deliver a scathing speech to Hollis, when they were in the kitchen.

The best recap that I have read on episode 217!!! You had me the whole time, great. As one writer (who has been worried about the attention span and the writing skills of the 147 character generation/twitter nation) to another, I am glad to see that there are still people who are articulate enough to be creative, entertaining and enlightening with full, ENGLISH sentences, and literary references.

@PhyllisD loved your #epistle although it more suited to a blog. Because I liked it so much I would like to invite you to join our closed group Scandal Real Talk you would love it there and we certainly would enjoy your insight.

Awesome episode I really liked Mellie even though I still dont know if all she was saying was the truth I know the part about Olivia using him was false I mean this is coming from a woman who induced her labor to keep POTUS cant put nothing past her…….Now as for Hollis daughter cutting her own ear off smh well with a father like that I may have took the 20 million too lol just saying….Huck found Quinn a family that was too sweet I like their partnership…..Jake Jake Jake smh I dont know what to say about him I mean I think he works for the man of the mole he isnt the mole himself. I think he likes Olivia too he has been protecting her from POTUS (he knows about them too) plus the way he looked at her right before he kissed her, after the kiss, and how he looked when he found out Osbourne was in her apartment…..all I’m saying is he makes her smile and she needs some happiness right now….POTUS finally something wakes your butt up….Now all I wonder is when Olivia finds out he hired Jake how will she react?

PROTECTING HER???
I hope you don’t apply this kind of blind optimism in your own life!
Jake’s been spying on her and will very likely soon be sleeping with her and going home to watch the reruns!
If you think a man she became connected to through a dead girl’s phone is going to bring her ANY sort of happiness, you’re kidding yourself. he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t try and kill her.